Experiment 78
by alyssialui
Summary: A collection of body-swap drabbles of our Gravity Falls characters.
1. Death

_A/N: Losing relatives is hard. Losing a twin is harder. Losing yourself is the hardest._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Death_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

The rain fell as the coffin was lowered into the ground, the box just a bit too small to be an adult's last resting place. All around, those who had come to pay their last respects, stood beneath large black umbrellas, their eyes downcast and their hearts open.

The young man sighed as he looked at the oak box in the hole, his curly brown hair slightly damp even beneath the umbrella above him. Even with all these people around, he still felt alone and abandoned. He still wished he had done something more.

Something had eventually gotten them, something much larger and more sinister than anything they had ever encountered in Gravity Falls. When they realized the large gash in her side wouldn't stop bleeding and they wouldn't make it back to the Mystery Shack in time, they simply sat on the forest floor. They sang songs from their childhood and told stories of their adventures. They spoke about their hopes and dreams, ignoring the fact that now only one would be able to live them out.

The man standing next to the young man placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you miss your sister, kid. Death is scary. Losing relatives is hard, losing a twin is harder."

The young man looked up into the older man's face, his eyes filled with empathy and sadness. He had known what it was like to lose someone that was your other half. He had known what he felt like to be alone.

The young man looked back down. Unfortunately this was more than that. Did the old man know what it was like to lose yourself?

It was Dipper who had died that night, Dipper who shared that he actually wanted to be a pilot before all this paranormal stuff, Dipper who remembered their favourite Saturday morning cartoon. However, it was her body that was too slow and had suffered the fatal injury. Now Mabel was stuck in her brother's body forever.


	2. Holidays

_A/N: Soos needs a vacation._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Holidays_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

"Ah, this is the life," Soos said as he laid back on his beach chair with a straw hat over his eyes. "No responsibilities, no chores and all the corn I can eat."

"Soos, we've been at this all day. Are you gonna come out of Waddles now?" Dipper asked as he stood to the right of the beach chair with a large leaf fanning the pig. Hung from the clothes line behind them was a large blue towel with an image of a beach and the words, "FUN IN THE SUN" in large yellow letters. On the other side of the chair, Candy and Grenda were feeding Soos many ears of corn and running their hands across his pink belly.

"No, dude, I'm having the time of my life" Soos said, taking a break from gobbling down corn. "Being a pig is great, so fan harder."

Dipper groaned as he moved his arms faster and Soos continued eating. He had wanted to go check out the two-headed goat he read about in the journal but then Mabel decided that Soos was working too hard and needed a vacation. He didn't know that meant vacation from being human as well. Now they were way behind schedule.

"Mabel, tell Soos that-" he said, turning hopefully towards his twin. Maybe she would say something about getting her pig back to normal.

But instead Mabel and Waddles were rolling about on the porch, Soos' large arms waving comically about and knocking into things. "Yah!" Mabel cried as she climbed onto Waddles' large back, who gave a squeal before they jumped off the deck and rode off into the forest.

Soos called out, "Be careful with that body, dudes."

Dipper brought his hand up to cover his face. Just another day as the twins spent their holidays in Gravity Falls.


	3. Sidekick

_A/N: Mabel is fed up with being treated like Dipper's sidekick._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **sidekick_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

"Now come on, Mabel," Dipper said over his shoulder, "I'm gonna need you to get me a large bucket of water and few ears of rotting corn."

Mabel scowled at her brother's back as he made to leave the room, his head buried deep in that stupid journal. This was supposed be their summer of fun, or even her time for summer romances, but all he cared about were the secrets held in that book. He decided what they did everyday and he ordered her around like some kind of sidekick.

Mabel began to reluctantly follow her brother before her feet tripped on something, almost sending her to the floor. She looked down to the electric blue carpet beneath her and smiled. She would not be his sidekick. Not today.

She quickly shuffled her feet on the fibres, the tingling feeling dancing across her skin and making the tiny hairs on her arms and legs stand up, before she reached for her brother.

"Aahh!" Dipper screamed, the journal falling out of his hands as their consciousness' flew through time and space before landing in the other's bodies, the shock sending both of them to the floor.

They both groaned as they sat up, rubbing a hand over their pounding heads as they stared at each other across the carpet. It only took a moment for the pain to subside before Dipper realized what his sister had done, a smirk appearing on the face of the Dipper who sat before him.

"Mabel, give me back my body!" Dipper cried from her body, lunging for her from his position on the ground, but Mabel quickly moved to pin him to the ground.

"I'm sorry, brother, but not yet," Mabel said over her brother, placing a foot in the small of his back. "Today, I'm the one in charge!"


	4. Trauma

_A/N: Mabel wants out of Dipper's strange body. I found this part hilarious in the actual episode, so I wanted to take Mabel's reaction to her "talk" with Grunkle Stan a little further. NB: It deviates from the episode afterwards._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **trauma_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

Mabel shuddered, still reeling from the trauma was forced to live through as she exited her grunkle's office. She had simply wanted to make Dipper look bad in front of their grunkle, but she hadn't expected to be sucked into such an uncomfortable conversation. She had learnt way more about her brother than she ever needed to know in the last few minutes, the images on the well-worn pages of the old textbook still fresh in her mind.

She had always wondered about boys but she had never expected that her first lesson about the opposite sex would be so detailed. She had learnt all about certain organs and hormones, hair growing in strange places, and other things that she had never even dreamt about, much less wanted to hear her grunkle's commentary on how each one affected a boy's body, including some anecdotes from his own personal experiences.

And in the end, it didn't even help her get the room. After their "bonding session", Grunkle Stan thought Dipper was maturing and even handed her the key, effectively meaning that she had lost.

She clutched her head, her hands raising towards the hat Dipper always wore, as more thoughts swarmed through her mind. A lot of things were starting to make sense now. So that's why Dipper was always so sweaty? That's why he was always staring at Wendy? That's why he told her not to crawl under the covers to surprise him in the mornings!

Another shudder flowed through Mabel as she ran back to the new room. She had to find Dipper. She had to switch back. She didn't care if she lost and he won. He could take the room if it meant she didn't have to spend another minute as a boy, especially as her brother.


	5. Brainwashed

_A/N: Dipper discovers the secrets of the Society of the Blind Eye. AU where Dipper discovers the society on his own and uses the carpet to switch with a member and attend one of the meetings._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **brainwashed_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

He stood among the other robed figures about him, the fire dancing across the blood red fabric as they all chanted together. He tried to keep up with them, tried to mimic the words, and hoped that no one would realize he often skipped a word or two.

Then suddenly the chanting was over, a hush falling over all the figures as their lips stilled. Only the crackling of the flames met Dipper's ears as the leader walked over to a table hidden in the shadows and returned with an odd gun-shaped device.

He held it up and said, "We, the members of the Society of the Blind Eye aim to help others by helping them to forget what needs to be forgotten."

Dipper gasped as the robed man on his left stepped forward, dropping his hood to reveal. '_Bud Gleeful?_' Dipper thought in confusion. _What was he doing here?_

"What is it you wish to forget?" the leader said.

"The other day, Gideon hung me upside from the ceiling because I bought skim milk instead of two percent," the man said with tears in his eyes, prompting Dipper to roll his eyes beneath his hood.

The leader nodded, ignoring Bud's pitiful sobs as he twisted a dial on the side of the gun. He placed it against Bud's temple and pulled the trigger. A bright blue light flashed as Bud's eyes rolled to the back of his head. He collapsed at his leader's feet with a groan.

"Ignorance is bliss," the leader said, pulling a strange tube out of the gun and putting it aside.

Bud soon sat up, a smile on his face as he stared around him. "Thank you, great leader," he said as he replaced his hood and returned among the others.

Dipper stared at the man who was just sobbing moments was looking around like he hadn't a care in the world. He watched as another robed figure stepped towards their leader, telling him what he would like to forget.

He had no time to lose. He quietly exited the meeting, saving himself from being brainwashed like the others.


	6. Past AU

_A/N: The electron carpet finally works. _

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Past!AU._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

"Alright, here we go. Experiment #78. Trial 14," the man said out loud as he wrote it in his notebook and adjusted the camera on his right, then he looked up to his two test subjects. "Ready when you are."

The smaller man gave an unsure smile. Their past attempts had not been successful, a few of them resulting in cuts and bruises and even a time when he had an overpowering craving for meat, but this was in the name of Science and he had devoted his life to uncovering mysteries. He took a deep breath before he began to rub his feet across the electric blue carpet, allowing the static energy in the shag fibres to travel up his legs and across his skin.

"Come on, Fiddleford! Hit me!" his co-test subject said. Ford was getting a bit aggravated waiting around and he wanted something to do. He shoved the smaller man, causing them to both scream before they fell to the ground.

The man dropped his notebook as he ran towards his fallen colleagues. "Guys, are you okay?" he asked, crouching down to pull them both up into a sitting position. "How do you feel?"

"Ah! My head," his brother said, but it didn't sound like his brother. It sounded like...

"Fiddleford! I'm you!" his brother's voice said coming from the man across from him who patting his body all over.

"The experiment worked!" he said. The contact transferred not just the electric charge, but also their consciousnesses, effectively swapping their bodies. This was amazing. It would mean-

"You're so small! How do you live like this!" Ford exclaimed, jumping to his feet and testing out his new size.

He laughed as his brother's body crossed its arms and said, "At least I'm not blind as a bat, Ford."

"Glasses are for squares!" Ford said, pointing at him and himself.

Everyone laughed before his brother asked, "So how do we switch back, Lee?"

There was a pause now. Lee hadn't thought they'd get this far so quickly. "Uhhh," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Do it again?"


	7. Future AU

_A/N: Lee takes Ford back to his old room. Future!AU (set after the event of Not What He Seems)_

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Future!AU_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

The brothers ascended the stairs of the broken shack before stopping outside a door on the second floor. The man in front pushed it open before flipping on the light switch, his brother walking in behind him.

"It's just as I left it," his brother said as his eyes took in all the fixtures and decorations on the wall. The bed was still pushed up into the corner, the desk was still messy and covered with odd scribbles and drawings, the calendar still left on July 1982, but then he looked down and noticed something missing on the hardwood floor.

"Where's the rug?" his brother asked.

"I had to move it because the kids found out about it a while back," he said, then he walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready to switch back?"

His brother looked into his eyes, eyes that were really his before they had switched more than thirty years ago. They had both aged, they had both seen and done things they wished they hadn't, and now, this was the most logical thing to do to make things right again, wasn't it?

But instead his brother shook his head as he removed the hand from his shoulder. "You've spent more time as Ford than I ever did, Lee. We've lived differently lives and so much has happened, so much has changed. I can't go back, at least not now."

He nodded. He understood. Ford needed time to get used to all things again. It would be odd to return to his body as well but he had no idea what horrors his brother had seen beyond the portal.

He moved towards the door to give his brother some privacy before pausing in the doorway to say, "If you ever change your mind, I'll be ready. I'll do anything for you, Ford."


	8. Forbidden Romance

_A/N: Mabel's heart breaks every time she goes to see Mermando. Dipper/Mermando and Mabel/Mermando._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Forbidden Romance_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls._

* * *

It was past midnight, the moon hidden behind the large clouds that floated above the lake. Everything was still except for the slight movement of the water caused by the fish swimming beneath its surface.

"Hello?" someone asked as they stepped towards the shore and walked along the short pier. "Mermando?"

The person waited for a moment before the water's surface was broken by a tanned young man. Small droplets of water clung to his skin, his long brown hair flowing around him, as he swam closer to the pier. "Dipper, you came," the young man said, a smile gracing his lips.

The teen on the pier returned the smile and crouched down towards the tanned man. "Of course I did," he said. "I missed you."

The tanned man leaned out of the water, the dim light glinting off the scales which rose above its dark surface and extended below, to grab the teen's face, pulling him in for a sweet kiss.

They both knew what they were doing was wrong, forbidden on so many levels. They aren't supposed to be meeting at all. The tanned merman was married to the Queen of the Manatees and Dipper had just begun dating Pacifica, but he couldn't help it. After that first accidental kiss last summer, he had fallen for the teen hook, line and sinker.

When they released, the tanned man jumped out of the water to sit beside the teen on the pier, placing their hands together. Dipper looked down and then into the merman's smiling face before looking away. He should be happy, right? Here was someone who loved him beyond all measure, someone who came out to see him on this cloudy night as they talked about everything.

But Dipper was not happy, because Dipper was not Dipper. Dipper was at home sleeping in Mabel's bed while she had taken his body out for this secret meeting. It was really her the tanned boy was meeting up with after midnight by the lake since the beginning of summer, it was really her he was sending those romantic bottle messages, and it was her heart that broke every time she had to remind herself that Mermando loved Dipper and not her.


	9. Question Everything

_A/N: Mabel suspects her brother. A sequel to **Not What He Seems** in my other GF collection._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Question Everything_

* * *

"Bro Bro? Aren't you-" Mabel asked as she pushed the door open, her words fading to nothing as she took in the chaos around her. The sheets were pulled off the beds, the curtains torn and clothes pulled out of their shared closet and tossed about the floor, as her brother tore it apart searching for something.

He spun on her suddenly, his eyes fiery and his teeth bared. "Where is it?" he asked, advancing on her with arms outstretched.

Mabel stepped back. "Where's what?" she asked.

"The journal!" he cried, throwing his arms up in frustration before he turned back around to search his bed once more.

Mabel bit her lip. He walked everywhere with that thing so how could he not know where he had last left it? Ever since he had come back from the forest this morning, he had been acting strangely, and then he still had yet to acknowledge the scratches on his body or the sound he had-

"Why did you go into the woods last night, Dipper?" Mabel asked.

He paused in his search but did not turn around. "I heard a noise," he said.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"A demon..." he said slowly. "What's with all the questions today?" he asked.

Mabel frowned at her brother. "You always told me to question everything, right Dipper?"

The boy turned, holding her gaze for a moment unblinkingly before his mouth stretched wide in an awkward looking smile. "Yes, I always say that."

Her brother's gaze never left her as she edged out of the room, resuming his search as soon as she closed the door. She stood on the other side of the door, listening to the activity within. Dipper was not what he seemed. Something wasn't right and she'd get to the bottom of it.


	10. Old Crush

_A/N: Dipper meets one of Mabel's old flames. "Mabel"/Gabe._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **Old Crush_

* * *

Dipper took a deep breath as he moved seamlessly through the crowd, his eyes darting towards every face for any suspicious activity. So far, no one had caught on, but he had to be careful. He had to play the part if he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

He paused as he regathered himself, ducking behind a display of oranges and apples. According to the journal, there was some secret sequence of tiles in the girl's restroom at the town grocery store. All he had to do was get in there and-

"Mabel?" a voice said beside him.

At first, Dipper didn't take any notice before the voice called again. He stiffened as he saw a taller boy coming towards him, his long blonde hair caught up in a ponytail.

"Mabel, don't you remember me?" he asked.

"Uhh..." Dipper said, rubbing the sleeve of his sweater awkwardly.

"It's me, Gabe," the boy said. "With the puppets."

"Oh right, puppets."

Then he shook his head, "Anyways, I've ditched the puppets now. They were messing with my head, you know."

"That's great," Dipper said, taking a few steps back as the boy looked down at his hands longingly.

"But now that they're gone, there's nothing that can stop us from being together," Gabe said.

"Oh, that's... wait, what?"

"You and me, Mabel," Gabe said, taking her hands. "Together forever."

"Gabe, I don't think..." Dipper began, trying to pull his hands free.

"Don't think, Mabel. Just do," Gabe said. "Now let's go get snow cones."

"Nooooo...," Dipper cried as he was dragged out of the grocery store.

"So how'd it go, Dipper," Mabel asked as she sat on the bed in the spare room. Being in Dipper's body was always so uncomfortable. It itched randomly and there was the constant craving for meat that was getting to her.

Dipper reached into his pocket and said, "Gabe said he'll pick you up at seven tommorow."


	11. Blue

_A/N: Stan visits his son and daughter-in-law in the hospital._

_Submission for:_

_**Electron Carpet Shuffle Challenge: **blue_

* * *

"Dad, you made it," the man said as he opened the door to his wife's hospital room, his bright eyes shining with happiness. "We didn't expect you to show until we possibly brought the kids home."

"Yea, well, here I am," the older man said, shrugging his shoulders as he scratched the back of his neck. He had intended to wait but he owed it to his brother to be here.

"Come in, come in," the younger man said, stepping aside to let their visitor in.

The older man stepped forward slowly, giving a casual wave to the woman as he surveyed the inside of the room. It was a quaint little room with a lovely view of the hospital parking lot, way different from the view he was used to in Gravity Falls.

"Oh, hi, Stan," the woman in the bed said, in her arms, two bundles held closely to her chest, one in pink and one in blue.

"There's two of them," he remarked once he reached the woman's bedside, his eyes widening slightly.

The younger man chuckled as he came up on her other side. "Yes, Dad, I told you we were having twins months ago."

Before the older man could say anything, the young man had already pulled one of the bundles out of his wife's arms. "We've named the girl Mabel but we haven't decided on a name for the boy yet."

He held the blue bundle out to the older man, who accepted it gingerly, taking in the baby boy's small features, his nose, his mouth, and-

"There's a strange birthmark on his forehead!" the older man said, his eyes squinting as he inspected it closer.

"We know," the woman said. "He's our little Dipper."

The older man looked back down at the bundle, tracing the birthmark with his finger.

"Oh, Ford, if you could see your family now," he thought.


End file.
